Railroad safety device



.4; Sept. 2, 1941. D. GUERRERO RAILROAD SAFETY DEVICE Filed Dec. 1, 1939 INVENTOR DIEGO GUEREEQO ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 2, 1941 sj'f i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to railroad safety devices, and is particularly directed to means for preventing derailment of the trucks or cars of either a toy railroad car or regular railroad.

As applied to regular railroads, the safety means comprises a head on the rail formed with a channel, and the truck is provided with angular brackets adapted to project into the channel of each rail normally clearing the rail, but adapted to engage the top wall of the channel to prevent derailment, the angular brackets have the channel engaging portions pointed forwardly or V-shaped to clear any obstructions that might gather within the channel, and furthermore serving to permit the train to pass over a split rail caused by excessive temperature changes or by other causes.

A further object of this invention is to provide a strong, rugged and durable rail safety device of the character described, which shall be relatively inexpensive to manufacture, and yet practical and efficient to a high degree in use.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which is shown one of the various possible illustrative embodiments of this invention:

Fig. 1 is an elevational, cross-sectional view of a set of railroad rails, and a truck thereon provided with safety device to prevent derailment, embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing a wheel passing over a. split rail.

The railroad safety device, according to this invention, includes rails 60 mounted on ties 6|. Each rail 60 has a base 6Ia, the outer portion 62 of which is of greater width that the inner portion 63, .or the purpose hereinafter appearing.

The rail 60 has a web 65 and a head 66. Extending from the head of the rail, is a channel shaped, integral portion 68, opening inwardly, for the purpose hereinafter appearing.

The truck is designated by numeral 10 and comprises a frame 1| having end portions I2. Fixed to each end of the truck frame, and insulated therefrom by insulation 15, are a pair of similar, symmetrically disposed, outer brackets 16 supporting members ll each having an outwardly extending horizontal wall 'l'la, disposed above the head of the rail and projecting into the channel shaped portion 68. The members H are removably attached by bolts 16a to permit disassembly of the members when a car is taken off the track or to permit repairs to the truck. The walls Ila normally do not contact the head of the rails or the channel shaped portions, except to prevent derailment of the train in case of accident, at curves in the track. The flange portion 62 of the rail base 6Ia extends beyond the channel shaped portion 68 to permit .spikes 19 to be driven downwardly into the ties 6|. Each wall 11a has an inclined edge all, and is hence V-shaped, so as to clear the channel shaped member 68 as the train moves.

It will now be understood that the walls 11a will engage the channel shaped portion 68 to prevent derailment.

Furthermore, as illustrated in Fig. 4, the walls lla will bridge the gaps at split rails, to permit trains to pass over split rails.

The brackets 16 are insulated from the truck so as to permit said brackets to be part of an electric signal system of any suitable construction, whereby a signal may be given when a wall Ila contacts any part of the rail.

The outer brackets 16 are of angle forms, one of their arms are attached upon the end portion 12 of the frame II and their other arms are projecting at right angles to this end portion. Inner brackets 16' are slightly spaced from the outer brackets 16 and are also mounted on the end portion 12 of the frame ll. These inner brackets 16 are also of angle shapes and have one of their arms attached to the end portion 12 and their other arms projecting at right angles to the end portion 12 and parallel to the projecting arms of the outer brackets 16. The members ll have their upper portions engaged in between the projecting arms of the brackets 16 and l6.. The bolts 16a pass through the projecting arms of the brackets 16 and I6 and through the members 11 for rigidly holding the members 11 in position.

The inner brackets 16' have downwardly protecting vertical bottom flanges I60: which terminate adjacent the inner edges of the heads 66 of the rails 65. The walls Ila are disposed at right angles to the bottom flanges 162:, and as before stated, engage over the heads 66 and into the channel shaped portions 68. An angle bar 16 is mounted across the adjacent arms of each of the inner brackets 16 to reinforce these arms for rigidly holding them fixedly in position.

A feature of the construction resides in the fact that when the bolts 16a are removed the members 11 may be slipped forwards out from between the parallel arms of the brackets 16 and 16'. Then the truck may be lifted upwards off the tracks. It should be noted that the bottom flanges 162: do not interfere with upward lifting of the truck.

'I'hejottom flanges 16s: are offset laterally from theife rtical arms of the brackets 16' forming shoulders upon which the members 11 rest. The members 11 have complementary offset portions nestled on said shoulders as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a device in which the several objects of this invention are achieved, and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In combination, a pair of rails having heads formed with channel shaped portions on the outer top edges thereof and opening inwards, a

truck having flanged Wheels engaging the tops and inner edges of said heads of the rails and having a frame, a pair of inner brackets mounted on the end of said frame and having vertical bottom flanges adjacent the inner edges of said heads, a pair of outer brackets mounted on the end of said frame and slightly spaced from said inner brackets, members having horizontal walls extending over said heads and into said channel shaped portions and having vertical walls engaging between said inner and outer brackets, and fastening elements engaging through said brackets and said vertical walls.

2. In combination, a pair of rails having heads formed with channel shaped portions on the outer top edges thereof and opening inwards, a truck having flanged wheels engaging the tops and inner edges of said heads of the rails and having a frame, a pair of inner brackets mounted on the end of said frame and having vertical bottom flanges adjacent the inner edges of said heads, a pair of outer brackets mounted on the end of said frame and slightly spaced from said inner brackets, members having horizontal walls extending over said heads and into said channel shaped portions and having vertical walls engaging between said inner and outer brackets, and fastening elements engaging through said brackets and said vertical walls, said brackets being of angle shape and having one of their arms attached on the end of the frame and the other of their arms projecting at right angles to the end of the frame and extending parallel to each other.

3. In combination, a pair of rails having heads formed with channel shaped portions on the outer top edges thereof and opening inwards, a truck having flanged wheels engaging the tops and inner edges of said heads of the rails and having a frame, a pair of inner brackets mounted on the end of said frame and having vertical bottom flanges adjacent the inner edges of said heads, a pair of outer brackets mounted on the end of said frame and slightly spaced from said inner brackets, members having horizontal walls extending over said heads and into said channel shaped portions and having vertical walls engaging between said inner and outer brackets, and fastening elements engaging through said brackets and said vertical walls, said brackets being of angle shape and having one of their arms attached on the end of the frame and the other of their arms projecting at right angles to the end of the frame and extending parallel to each other, and said members being engaged between the parallel extending arms of said brackets.

f1. In combination, a pair of rails having heads formed with channel shaped portions on the outer top edges thereof and opening inwards, a truck having flanged wheels engaging the tops and inner edges of said heads of the rails and having a frame, a pair of inner brackets mounted on the end of said frame and having vertical bottom flanges adjacent the inner edges of said heads, a pair of outer brackets mounted on the end of said frame and slightly spaced from said inner brackets, members having horizontal walls extending over said heads and into said channel shaped portions and having vertical walls engaging between said inner and outer brackets, and fastening elements engaging through said brackets and said vertical walls, said brackets being of angle shape and having one of their arms attached on the end of the frame and the other of their arms projecting at right angles to the end of the frame and extending parallel to each other, and said members being engaged between the parallel extending arms of said brackets, said fastening elements comprising bolts engaged through the vertically extending arms of the brackets and through the vertical v walls of said members.

5. In combination, a pair of rails having heads formed with channel shaped portions on the outer top edges thereof and opening inwards, a truck having flanged wheels engaging the tops and inner edges of said heads of the rails and having a frame, a pair of inner brackets mounted on the end of said frame and having vertical bottom flanges adjacent the inner edges of said heads, a pair of outer brackets mounted on the end of said frame and slightly spaced from said inner brackets, members having horizontal walls extending over said heads and into said channel shaped portions and having vertical walls engaging between said inner and outer brackets, and fastening elements engaging through said brackets and said vertical walls, said bottom flanges being oifset laterally from said inner brackets forming shoulders, and said members having complementary offset portions resting on said shoulders.

6. In combination, a pair of rails having heads formed with channel shaped portions on the outer top edges thereof and opening inwards, a truck having flanged wheels engaging the tops and inner edges of said heads of the rails and having a frame, a pair of inner brackets mounted on the end of said frame and having vertical bottom flanges adjacent the inner edges of said heads, a pair of outer brackets mounted on the end of said frame and slightly spaced from said inner brackets, members having horizontal walls extending over said heads and into said channel shaped portions and having vertical walls engaging between said inner and outer brackets, and fastening elements engaging through said brackets and said vertical walls, and a bar mounted between said inner brackets.

DIEGO GUERRERO. 

